Luckily we managed to wake the Bolivian border guards so we could get out. Same to get into chile. We could have just driven round, but that may have had unexpected consequences.
Only scratching the surface of Chile. It’s such a massive country.
Last coup was in 1973 and General Pinochet was democratically removed in 1988 by a referendum. This seemed to have worked a lot better than Brexit!
Emerging from Chilean border control into the Atacama, suddenly there are actual roads, road signs. The transition to order is instant. How can two countries be so different
We would have rented a car but there’s no Godfrey’s Davies rent-a-car desk or Avis at the border for that matter. Driving in Chile is straight forward, though drivers do spend an alarming amount of time on the wrong side of the road. But if you’ve driven in Italy you’ll be fine. 4×4 advisable tho for accessing the wonders of the Atacama altiplano.
Bogies! Desert dust gets into everything.
San Pedro de Atacama is a 3000 year old oasis town in the desert. Importantly it’s at a meagre 2400 meters. The feeling at this altitude is fantastic compared to the 4900 meters on the way through Bolivia. There are way more tourists here though.
Safe and relaxed. The cops look a bit menacing so maybe this helps.
You don’t need cash here, everywhere takes contactless(almost). All the restaurants add an optional service fee and actually ask you if you want to pay it!!!
ATMs – take care, some charge an arm and a leg – eight quid on banco BCI. Scotia bank was free. Bank of Chile “no function”, Banco Edwards Citi comes in with a mahisive $9500 potatoes, sorry paseos. There’s roughly $1200 potatoes to the pound. If you need to tip you can use dollars if u want.
Atacama is spectacular. Volcanos, geysers, salt flats, lagoons, wildlife blah blah.
The geysers are an hour and a half drive from San Pedro and you have to get there for sun rise! It’s all over by 9:30 as the air temperature rises the steam disappears.
Make sure you have a good poo before you leave your hotel – the bumpy road causes a lot of “settlement” on the way and it would be awful to miss the spectacle sitting on the bog! Worth getting up early!
Geysers, lagoons, moon valley and the salt flats all have people limits, so if you’re independent you’ll need to book in advance. Can be done on the worldwideinformationsuperhighway.
Don’t take a bus tour. Like everywhere else, the people only venture 50 m from the car park. Power through them and you’ll feel a lot less claustrophobic.
The Tropic of Capricorn, the Route 23 to Argentina and the Camino Del Inca (Inca trail) to the south coincide at a rock. Not a big rock, but sufficiently large enough for a crouch. Ta-da, a genuine Inca toilet. Used by many, for 1’s, 2’s and probably 3’s
. Possibly for hundreds of years. Becca of course couldn’t resist. Oh and of course it’s a popular photo op too! Not the rock, luckily. The tropic. 23°26′09.9″ south.
Were people dicks before Tickertytoc or did Tickertytoc turn them into dicks?
Quinoa is the South American staple. A thousand uses – boiled quinoa, quinoa mash, quinoa puree, quinoa salad, quinoa fritters, quinoa burgers, quinoa energy bars, quinoa biscuits, quinoa bread, quinoa doughnuts – I’ll stop there but you get the idea.
Missing the pan pipes. Why no pan pipes?
The earth moved. No that’s not some reference to my unmatched sexual prowess. It actually moved, 4.6 on the Richter scale. 2:21 in the morning. Turns out, it’s a thing. 4 ish of this size a month in Valparaiso. Just a little wobble really.
While we’re on it. Valparaiso is a lovely city. You do need 100 peso coins to use the funiculars. Of which there are a few.
The spaghetti chefs work hard to maintain the telephone wiring.
Take care to look down. The dogs don’t clear up after themselves. But look up at the quirky steel clad, brightly painted buildings. Street art (otherwise known as graffiti) is a thaing.
Wish I’d planned a cheeky ski
The average height of a Chilean female is 5ft 1.5 inches. Which explains why you notice them before the collision. It doesn’t stop the collision. I learnt too late that there is a walking etiquette where you always pass on the right! Took 3 weeks in South America to get that figured out. Donut.
Holafly eSIM continues Stirling service. Except where there’s a 100km of nothingness in the Atacama desert. EE offered 7 days and 10MB for £70, for which I got unlimited data across the whole of South America for 30 days from Holafly.
Take care with your planning. Lots of restaurants closed Sunday and Monday evenings and museums on Mondays.
It is the law to fly a flag in September. It is against the law to fly a flag any other time.
Bus drivers drive like nutters. They get a cut of the ticket money so work hard to minimise journey time.
My wife pissed at lunchtime is a difficult thing to handle. No one told her that you’re supposed to taste wine not swallow it! Still belligerent at 3 pm. Despite this, a fleeting visit to the Colchagua valley wine region was worth it. She’s now singing btw.
Santiago is massive. Have a Dominos hot dog. Iconic apparently. No that’s not the same as domino’s pizza!!!
Conventional exit! Santiago airport has a massive passport control queue. None of the South American airports give 2 hoots about liquids, computers or toiletries. get there early nonetheless.
LATAM airlines are bloody brilliant. Very efficient, on time and no fuss.
Bye chile. Argentina incoming.
